Tag: a court of thorns and roses

Week in Review (Jan 30 – Feb 5, 2022)

~ colourfulgranny ~ Leave a comment

What have I been doing this week? I’m glad you asked! Here’s what’s been on my watchlist this week:

*Note: My reviews usually contain spoilers. You have been warned. Proceed at your own risk.*

Books

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas – Ch 54-82

I managed to finish the final stretch of ACOWAR with a bit more patience, perhaps because I had prepared myself for pretty much anything to happen. This last third delved into the war with Hybern, as the King’s army invades the mortal lands and starts wrecking havoc. They leave a trail of ruined villages in their wake, but since the five Courts that were allied had several winnowers among them, they managed to get a number of them to safety within Fae lands. Rhysand, of course, very generously offers his own city as refuge where others didn’t or couldn’t, and once they managed to save as many as possible, they finally get down to the fighting.

It’s a series of small pyrrhic victories for the Prythian forces, and as their forces dwindle and their army’s morale deteriorates, Feyre manages to pull yet another trick out of her hat. She’d already managed to ensure that the mysterious creature in the library joined their forces, but was convinced that this would not be enough to win them the war, she finally decides to face the infamous Ouroboros that the Bone Carver asked her to get as payment to join her cause.

This is the kind of thing I find astounding: not only did she manage to overcome something that legend claimed had driven greater people than her to madness, but she managed to do it in the space of one night. It’s one thing to have convenient plot devices; it’s another altogether to write completely counter to what’s been previously established.

And perhaps that’s where I was most let down by this series. We had Tamlin set up as our lead, only to have his personality take a 180º turn. We had Feyre go from being a level-headed young girl to master manipulator, yet never reprimanded for her decisions. Rhysand was also conveniently excused for his behaviour, which was always explained away in some way by his inner circle as being for the greater good.

While I was pulled in by the universe of the series, I felt that the second and third book let me down in many ways because of how enthralled I was by the first one. Maas never truly followed through on a lot of the threads that she set up, which ultimately left me with a bitter aftertaste. From what I know of the direction of future books in the series, I’m not particularly inclined to read further than this book. I feel like this is a good ending point, with a characters in a place where their story feels like it has been completed.

Week in Review (Jan 16 – 22, 2022)

~ colourfulgranny ~ Leave a comment

What have I been doing this week? I’m glad you asked! Here’s what’s been on my watchlist this week:

*Note: My reviews usually contain spoilers. You have been warned. Proceed at your own risk.*

TV

The Red Sleeve Cuff (2021) – Ep 3-12

I’ve finally had the chance to return to The Red Sleeve Cuff after an extended hiatus (handling two sageuks at once proved to be a bit much for me), and I’m ready to give my full attention to Seong Deok-im (Lee Se-young) and her life as a palace court maid. Life has been particularly challenging for her since her assignment as Yi San’s (Lee Junho) personal handmaiden.

It’s quite obvious to everyone in court that Deok-im has caught the prince’s eye, which paints a target on her back for all his enemies. However, Deok-im proves herself smart and resourceful at every turn, and when she isn’t saving her own skin she has any number of people that she’s befriended to help her out.

By far the most interesting element of the show for me was the secret society of court ladies, who referred to themselves as the Fairy Palace. I love learning about the people that make a place function like a well-oiled machine, and oftentimes the court ladies in sageuks are there as a part of the background and oftentimes expendable. I like having them take the forefront here, and seeing what their hopes and dreams are outside of just serving the masters of the palace. While Head Court Lady Jo’s (Park Ji-young) moral compass seems to have broken, I can fully understand where she might have been coming from in not wanting to have just anybody on the throne.

That being said, Yi San continues to be punished for the crimes of his father, and no one is able to stand up for him since it would mean defying the King (Lee Deok-hwa) himself. In my research, I found that Yi San was a mere 24 years old when he took the throne, and had been his grandfather’s heir since age 7. Constantly being watched to see if his father’s madness was showing in him would make anyone insecure and upset, but unable to react for fear of being branded the same. The way the show portrays his relationship with his grandfather is rather complex, and at times confusing because it shows very little of his personal opinion of the man.

With the king’s own illness taking hold of him, Yi San becomes regent to the throne, and shortly thereafter ascends the throne properly upon the king’s death. The show does a 3-year jump forward in time, and it seems that quite a bit has changed at court. However, there appears to be a stalemate in Deok-im and San’s relationship. She continues to wait on him as one of many court ladies, although it looks like palace life is wearing on her. He continues to wait for her, hoping that she will agree to becoming queen consort. When last I left them, he had just confessed to wanting to make her family, but I’m not sure if Deok-im is in a place to accept his offer just yet with her own ambitions still unfulfilled.

With most of his opposers now dead or banished, it would seem like the road ahead will be smooth for San, but I don’t think that will be the case for very long. For one, it would make for very boring television. Secondly, there still seems to be plenty of opposition to his way of thinking and his vision for Joseon.

I’m looking forward to seeing how both our leads navigate the challenges ahead of them, and I’m hoping they get to be individuals before they are together. However, I’m sure once they are together, it will be absolutely explosive (tragic historic ending aside). Let’s see how it goes.

Movies

83 (2021)

Sports films, especially underdog biopics like these are usually ripe for drama and high stakes action. 83 is no exception, but it sets up its premise very well. It helps that the events of the film don’t take place too long ago, so it is still fresh and relevant for a lot of people who were around and saw the Cricket World Cup that is depicted here. It also capitalizes on a sense of nationalism that is an essential element in stirring people’s hearts.

Where the film excels, however, is in its performances. Ranveer Singh embodies Kapil Dev’s character, and the writing here supports him really well, making an iconic historical figure a relatable and down to earth man.

While the film did have issues in its editing, and it was sometimes hard to follow who the opponents were or when a particular match was taking place, I liked the element of mixing in real footage into the film. Where a lot of films have tried and failed at this, 83 managed to pull it off smoothly by having it blended in on screens, in newspaper clipping and other unintrusive way.

I came away from the film having enjoyed it, feeling a sense of pride in this team that no one believed in and wanting to know more, despite already being quite familiar with the Indian cricket team and having a good outline of their history. And if that isn’t a sign of an engaging film, I don’t know what is.

Books

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas – Ch 1-53

Just as I’d predicted (and secretly hoped, if I’m being honest) the third part in Maas’s Court series is absolutely bonkers, and I’ve been simultaneously reading and yelling at my copy of ACOWAR.

If that sounds dramatic, it’s nothing compared to the drama unfolding in the book, which is on an unrivaled level. Maas seems to delight in delivering one plot twist after another, and it is giving me emotional whiplash trying to keep up. When the book opened, Feyre had safely infiltrated the Spring Court and gotten almost everyone there to believe that she’d been brainwashed and held captive in the Night Court with Rhysand. She’s also apparently turned into the biggest mastermind manipulator and just with a few well-placed words and hands manages to overturn the entire court, while also simultaneously dragging the unwitting Lucien along with her. How convenient, especially considering her now Fae sister happens to be his mate.

Once she’s learnt of their enemy’s plans, planted the seed for civil unrest in Spring and made a rather perilous journey back to Night, it’s only a matter of time before their real planning begins. War with Hybern is imminent, and apparently none of the other courts seem particularly inclined to helping them. This is a particularly hard pill to swallow, considering that the war will be happening on their lands, so the people that have the most to lose – and therefore the most to gain from preventing it – are those very same High Lords of Prythian. It’s these kinds of inconsistencies in writing and character that really bother me.

Similarly inconsistent is the way in which Tamlin is written. From reading the way he interacts with Feyre and Rhysand, you would think he’s never been slighted in his 500+ years of life. He behaves like a petulant child that’s had his favorite toy taken away, that too in front of his peers, with little shame. Beron of Autumn Court is similarly shallow and immature, seeking petty revenges. His eldest son’s history, however, seems to be getting conveniently altered to give him some redemptive qualities and I suspect he will soon be replacing his father. Beron’s youngest is also having his history altered, namely in the direction of being a child of his mother’s affair with Helion of Day Court.

I will say that by far my favourite sequence of the book so far was the meeting that took place in Dawn Court. Getting introduced to all the High Lords of Prythian, getting a sense of their histories and personalities was very enlightening, and this is where Maas excels in her writing. She is incredible at universe building, which is what drew me into her first book initially. It’s only unfortunate that she goes off on these tangents at the cost of building the plot and characters.

I’m honestly not expecting much improvement in terms of the writing in the last third of the book, and now that the war is upon them, it’s very likely that there are going to be a number of shortcuts and last minute solutions that appear. I’m most likely going to see the rest of this book through and put the rest of the series aside.

Week in Review (Dec 26, 2021 – Jan 1, 2022)

~ colourfulgranny ~ 1 Comment

New year, new TV show and movies to watch, new books to read and new reviews to write. I’m hoping to still keep fresh insight coming with my reviews and keep it interesting. Thanks for sticking around for another year, readers! Happy new year!

What have I been doing this week? I’m glad you asked! Here’s what’s been on my watchlist this week:

*Note: My reviews usually contain spoilers. You have been warned. Proceed at your own risk.*

Movies

The King’s Man (2021)

I have been waiting for The King’s Man for an age, and it’s finally here!

I have a particular love for Matthew Vaughn’s crazy style of storytelling and have watched a large body of his work, including the two previous installments in this series (loved the first, hated the second). There were several factors of this film that I was looking forward to. The World War I setting, Matthew Goode starring (despite him not being in any of the promotional material, which was rather annoying) and getting to see the origin of the organization.

While the film had several predictable beats in terms of the plot, it was visually appealing and Vaughn went all out with his camera movement and directing his actors. His fight sequences looked like choreographed dances, and at least the duel between Orlando Oxford (Ralph Fiennes) and Rasputin (Rhys Ifans) was more ballet than battle.

However, there were parts where it felt like directing choices were made more for shock value than actually serving the story. Rasputin “fixing” Oxford’s leg and Conrad’s (Harris Dickinson) death are two that come to mind. Vaughn has always had a strange sense of humor where violence is concerned, and seeing the way he handled some of the stylistic choices of what was the genocide of young men during one of the most grueling wars in history felt distasteful.

Going off that same ideology, I had a similar issue with this film that I did with the original Kingsman: while I don’t condone their methods, I actually agree with the so-called villains’ ideologies. In this film, Morton was perfectly justified in feeling resentment towards the English for what is generational oppression and mistreatment of the Scottish people. The film really glossed over Morton’s motivation, but I suspect that if the film had gone into more detail on his reasoning, a lot more viewers would feel similarly to me. And while I was glad that Goode is finally getting more big name projects, it did feel a bit wrong to have an Englishman play a Scot who despises the English.

Overall, The King’s Man felt tonally inconsistent, and while not a piece of high cinema, I enjoyed it nonetheless for what it was: a fun, crazy and sometimes heartfelt movie. And I don’t think it really set out to be more than that.

Books

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas – Ch 19-69

Wow, did this book take a turn from where I last left off!

ACOMAF is insane, in that it took the work that was done in its predecessor and undid all of it. From the very beginning, Maas set up Tamlin as this shining beacon that Feyre could turn to when she had lost all hope, but once she’s pulled into Rhys’s world she doesn’t even look twice at him. While I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with an organic change in relationship where two people naturally outgrow one another, Maas seems to be focusing more on erasure; worse than that, she puts Tamlin down in order to big up Rhysand, which bothers me to no end.

What bothered me even more, though is that Feyre doesn’t seem to realize that she is in fact just repeating the same patterns that she is condemning: placing blind trust in a man that she knows little about; only having the illusion of agency in a situation while having every decision ultimately made for her; being subtly guided and manipulated into following others’ agenda.

That being said, I absolutely flew through this book. Curiosity at what madness Maas would bring me next had me going through at breakneck speed, and it was a fascinating read. With Feyre now having infiltrated the Spring Court, war with Hybern imminent and Rhys and Feyre having confirmed their mating bond (ew), the next book promises to be a crazy ride.

Week in Review (Dec 5 – 11, 2021)

~ colourfulgranny ~ 1 Comment

What have I been doing this week? I’m glad you asked! Here’s what’s been on my watchlist this week:

*Note: My reviews usually contain spoilers. You have been warned. Proceed at your own risk.*

Books

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas – Ch 1-18

The follow-up to Sarah J. Maas’s excellent first book is off to an interesting start. The book picks up a little while after the events of Thorns and Roses, and Feyre is preparing for her impending wedding to Tamlin. As the future wife of a High Lord, she is receiving training on court etiquette and what will be expected of her in this role. However, it is clear that she would much rather receive training on how to use her new Fae body and the powers it seems to slowly exhibit. Tamlin and the members of his court, on the other hand, are strongly against it, saying that it sends the wrong message to the other courts. And therein lies the crux of their main conflict. 

Feyre is written as a pretty standard heroine, self-deprecating but incredibly skilled; however, now with the added abilities I do find it heartbreaking that she would put herself down so much and consider herself unworthy of being Tamlin’s wife. She is going through some intense PTSD following the events of ACOTAR and having to kill two Fae in cold blood, and it seems that not a single soul in the Spring Court seems to know or care (outside of perhaps Lucien). Add to that wedding stress and a strained relationship with Tam and it’s no wonder that Rhysand is so shocked at the toll it’s taken on her, and takes her away to the Night Court when she eventually breaks down.

I find it incredibly intriguing that Rhysand has taken such an interest in Feyre. I don’t think his intentions are as noble as we are being led to believe, but I do like that Feyre is still getting more of an education than she might have done at the Spring Court. I find it quite shocking that she also does allude to the possibility that she only fell in love with Tamlin becuase he was the first person who showed interest in her, but it seems that she may be repeating that pattern with Rhys (even though I do find Rhys fascinating as a character, I don’t really ship them).

One thing that I do wish we had in the book was other points of view. I would love to have seen Tam’s reaction to Feyre being taken, or Rhys’s take on the Bone Carver. Now that we are getting more into the history and political landscape of Prythian, Feyre sometimes feels limited in her viewpoint as an outsider of their world.

I am looking forward to the upcoming war, and seeing Feyre take steps towards her recovery. I’m also looking forward to seeing the consequences of Feyre moving to the Night Court, and how she’ll impact the impending war.

Week in Review (Nov 21 – 27, 2021)

~ colourfulgranny ~ 1 Comment

What have I been doing this week? I’m glad you asked! Here’s what’s been on my watchlist this week:

*Note: My reviews usually contain spoilers. You have been warned. Proceed at your own risk.*

Books

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas – Ch 28-46

After about 16 month, I finally returned to this book, and I understand a little bit why I left off where I did when I last put the book down. The second half of ACOTAR isn’t nearly as intriguing as the first, and I was rather disappointed at all the convenient coincidences that aligned into place for Feyre. Not only does she get a long expositional speech and a shortcut to Under the Mountain from Alis, the only remaining person at the Spring Court, she is also given not one, but two ways to free Tamlin and in turn his people and the entirety of Prythian as a result. To top it all off, she manages to get turned into one of the High Fae so she can live happily ever after (in theory) with Tamlin.

While I did have issues with the pacing of the book, the overall world-building was very impressive. A lot of the faeries who occupied Prythian clearly had roots in mythological creatures, and the story itself followed quite closely to Beauty and the Beast, ACOTAR’s original inspiration. However, there is a newness to the way that it is presented, and the way that elements are combined to create something fresh and fascinating.

Going forward, I’m sure the books will be much more story-driven now that Maas has an established universe for her characters to run wild in and I’m interested to see how Feyre is going to navigate the challenges that are bound to come from her new body and status. I’m also hoping to see more of the other courts and its people, especially the mystical Rhysand since he seems to have more insight into Feyre than she seems to have of herself at the moment. I’m also intrigued to see what improvements Maas makes as a writer, and hope that some of the pacing issues will be ironed out going forward.

Week in Review (Jul 26-Aug 1, 2020)

~ colourfulgranny ~ 4 Comments

What have I been doing this week? I’m glad you asked! Here’s what’s been on my watchlist this week:

TV

Hospital Playlist (2020)

Hospital Playlist has the kind of vibe that makes you feel like you’re part of the gang. You laugh with them, and you cry with them. You root for them through their successes and hope for them through their hardships. This show highlighted the beauty of different kinds of relationships, that between parent and child, between siblings, and of friends who have become family. It has the signature pop culture references and musical flair of Writer Lee/PD Shin that make you feel a sense of nostalgia and longing even as you’re watching it, and the characters are so inherently true to self you feel like they’ve been plucked from real life. I can’t wait to continue on this journey with our Yulje crew. I need Season 2 yesterday!

Harley Quinn Season 2 (2019)

What a great first half, and what a disappointing second half. It felt like the writers were unsure who their characters were in the latter half of this season, with Dr. Psycho turning supervillain, the Joker’s unnecessary reappearance, and Harley’s completely out of the blue love for Ivy. Perhaps it was a case of confused feelings that made Harley confuse love for her friend who supported her with romantic love, but Ivy’s motivations seemed completely opaque. Poor Kiteman got the short end of it, leaving a very bitter taste after seeing two seasons of build-up on their relationship end in rejection. I’m not sure what the writers were thinking, but I hop they remember who their characters are in time for the next season.

Books

A Court of Thorns and Roses (Ch 1 – 28) – Sarah J. Maas

Feyre’s journey seems familiar, with common themes of poverty and self-sufficiency and hardship being ones repeated through many young adult novels. However, she is not your typical protagonist, in that she is very rarely seen wallowing in self-pity. She gets on with life, and makes do with what she has, which makes her infinitely more likeable in my eyes. While the story is building towards her relationship with Tamlin, it sometimes feels like that is almost secondary, with her need to figure out herself and her surroundings taking precedence. Whether that be in learning to paint or in figuring out the lay of the land and the creatures that occupy it, Feyre has a voracious appetite for learning her environment – which also gets her in trouble on more than one occasion. On the whole, I enjoy learning the mythology of Maas’s universe, and just like Feyre, I’m curious about the vast expanse that lays ahead of me.